


Black and Blue and Red All Over

by Zoe_Dameron



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Fanart, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gingerpilot, Implied Violence, M/M, Mild Angst, Undercover Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 01:39:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16734600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoe_Dameron/pseuds/Zoe_Dameron
Summary: General Hux knows better than anyone that surviving doesn't necessarily mean living. Poe Dameron is here to remind him what it means to feel alive.





	Black and Blue and Red All Over

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darktensh17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darktensh17/gifts).



Lightning crackles hypnotically over the rows of glistening white Stormtrooper helmets, the sound of hard rain bouncing off plastisteel like thunder to match. Nights on Vardos, General Hux has come to discover, are much like nights on every other First Order-controlled city; stormy, wet, and unpleasant. He’s thankful to be inside tonight, watching over the Stormtrooper infantry yards from the comfort of his office.

There’s a commotion outside, he can see from his window, something unexpected enough to interrupt the normal drills they’re running, and he comms down to Captain Fennict for a report.

“Sir,” the Captain replies, though it’s hard to hear her over the wind and the rain, “we just got word of a possible Resistance presence in the north side of the city. A resident saw an unauthorized BTL-S3 Y-wing touch down briefly before flying off. I’m deploying the RZ and LC corps to the site now, sir.”

“Very good. Alert me if anyone is found and use non-lethal force; I want them alive long enough to tell us why they’re here.”

“Sir, yes sir.”

“Also,” Hux continues, fetching his hat and throwing his greatcoat over his shoulders, “send someone to the armory. With so few Resistance scum left it’s likely they’re running low on resources and will no doubt stoop to stealing from us.”

He doesn’t even wait for the Captain’s reply before he’s out the door and on the first lift straight to the building’s garage, hopping on the closest available grav-car and speeding away into the night.

The destination is a small motel, no larger than a dozen or so rooms. It’s across the street from one of the city’s more popular nightclubs, and the clientele are usually in and out within a couple hours. Much of the city still trades in secrets, so Hux makes sure to park in the back and cover his grav-car with a cloaking device, leaving behind his greatcoat in favor of an oversized hooded jacket, one unmarked by the First Order’s signature hexagon.

He pulls his hood up and heads inside to check in with the motel clerk. The clerk is an older man, likely in his late-90s, with a voice that’s no doubt grown leathery from years of deathstick use.

“I’m here to meet someone,” Hux offers. “Goes by the name ‘Fulcrum’. Have they checked in yet?”

The man nods and asks no follow-up questions as he grabs down an old fashioned manual key from the board behind him. “Room 8,” he coughs out, returning to the holo-program he was watching before the key is even out of his hand.

Hux examines the key briefly before he arrives at the room, sparing a minute for himself to enjoy the thumping of the electro bass carrying over from the nightclub next door. Between the music, the misty streets, the neon of the lights, and the rain, Vardos gives the illusion of being far more interesting than Hux has found it to be.

The key enters the door with a satisfying mechanical _click_. He pauses, knocks twice, pauses again, knocks once more, and turns the handle.

Every light in the room is off save for one, and he can see the soft glow of it pouring out around the overturned couch in the middle of the room. Illuminated by this glow, crouched behind the couch with his blaster raised and ready to fire, is Poe Dameron.

The two stare at each other in tense silence before the pilot finally speaks. “You alone?”

“Yes,” Hux replies, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. He relaxes a bit when Dameron finally lowers his weapon and stands.

“That was fast. I’m guessing someone saw me get dropped off.”

“It would appear so,” says Hux, pulling off his jacket and laying it neatly over a chair. “Though they’re nowhere near here. I’m having them look elsewhere. You’re welcome.”

Poe winks. “Thanks, Red.”

Sighing, Hux settles himself on the edge of the large bed and begins removing his boots while Poe rights the couch. “So. Why are you here? You know you can just call.”

“Calls are risky. We just lost another encrypted line. Don’t know if you heard.”

“Showing up in the middle of a First Order city, one they’re quite proud of controlling, mind you, is risky.”

With the furniture back in its place, Poe takes a seat in one of the small, uncomfortable-looking chairs across the room and grabs a datapad out of his bag, tossing it to Hux, who barely catches it. The two exchange a look before Poe continues.

“You guys captured an important shuttle. Had a couple engineers aboard. We need them back.”

Hux huffs in annoyance. “Oh for crying out loud, Dameron. I can’t keep orchestrating these escapes. Getting both you and the scavenger girl out –“

“Rey.”

“Getting both you and _Rey_ out was hard enough. A few more of these ‘accidents’ and they’re going to figure out they have someone from the Resistance working inside the First Order.”

“Send them away, then. Get them out of the cellblocks. We can intercept a prison shuttle, just give me the details and we’ll do our jobs.”

Hux sighs again, scrubbing his hands over his face. “Are these essential personnel, Dameron?”

“Every life is essential, Red.”

“Yes, of course, but are these engineers absolutely essential to –“

“Yes.”

“Fine.” Hux replies. Annoyed, he throws the datapad back to Poe. “Is that all, then? You came all the way to Vardos and put your own life at risk to tell me something that could have easily been communicated through any number of our remaining channels?”

Poe moves to speak but hesitates, clearly searching for the words. “Why are you on Vardos, Red?” he asks, his voice soft.

“I’m on Vardos because the First Order needs me to be on Vardos.”

When Poe’s expression doesn’t change, Hux knows he’s been beaten. “If you _must_ know, I’m on Vardos because it’s the most reasonable place a First Order General can be right now, besides on a ship with that damned overgrown child who has somehow found himself Supreme Leader.”

Poe stands and walks over to the bed, seating himself close to Hux. Too close. “I’ve told you about the droid spy network before, haven’t I.” It’s not a question. “There’ve been… _murmurings_ , lately. About the violent way the ‘Supreme Leader’ treats a certain red-headed General. I came here to see if, you know, if you’re… alright. Are you, Red? Are you alright?”

Hux knows that if his own father could see him now, the way his words catch in his throat, the way his hands shake, the way his cheeks flush and his eyes fill with tears at the simple question of “Are you alright?”, that he’d be disappointed in how his son has turned out.

He also knows that Poe Dameron is an important, high-ranking member of the Resistance, with important, high-ranking missions to be on to keep the galaxy safe. Poe Dameron should be somewhere else right now, off saving babies or orphans or loth-kittens or whatever else the Resistance has been up to in Hux’s absence. Instead, he’s _here_ , in a no-tell motel in the middle of a First Order city, risking torture and public execution if he’s caught, and all to check in on how Hux is doing. It’s enough to bring any man to tears.

“I’m –“ Hux tries to say, his voice wavering, “I knew what my mission was when I signed up.” It’s a non-answer, obviously. He knows it’s futile, but he attempts it anyway.

He expects a fight, expects more probing questions from Dameron. What he gets instead is a kind hand on his leg, one that lets him know that whatever Hux is going through right now that he’s not alone.

And then the tears come, like someone flipped a switch, and all at once General Armitage Hux of the First Order, an undercover agent in General Leia Organa’s Resistance, comes undone. He folds himself into Dameron’s waiting arms, his head resting in the crook of Dameron’s neck as he weeps openly, like a youngling. Poe pulls him closer, gentle arms holding him as he shudders.

“You’re okay, Red. It’s okay. I’m here,” the pilot whispers back, until all Hux has left are the echoes of the sadness he once felt.

When he can finally manage it, he pulls away, wiping at the tear tracks left on his cheeks and neck. “I’m sorry,” he offers softly, even though he knows Dameron doesn’t need that from him.

“You know I don’t need you to say that, Red,” Poe offers, and Hux can’t help but smile at that.

He looks back up at Dameron, with his soft brown eyes and full lips and his unstoppable kindness, and he knows it’s wrong but he does it anyway, leaning forward and capturing those full lips with his own. What he doesn’t expect is for Dameron to kiss _back_ , pulling Hux close and melting into him like he’s been holding onto feelings for Hux in secret this whole time.

It’s a relief to be touched this way, to be needed instead of discarded or thrown about on a whim. Hux realizes that it’s been years since he’s felt like this, like he matters, and he knows that if Dameron wanted that he could do anything to him right now, _anything_ , and that he’d take it happily, just because it’s kind.

He whimpers with need when Dameron breaks the kiss, pulling away just enough to rest his forehead against Hux’s. The two rest like that for a moment until Poe leans back to look him in the eyes.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time, Red.”

Hux wants to say, “Me too.” He wants to say, “Please, stay with me tonight,” oh stars does he want to, but the crackle of his comm brings his fantasy crashing back down to reality.

“General Hux, sir,” says the voice of Captain Mazuri on the other end. “We’ve just received intel on possible Resistance movements outside Malachor V, sir. The Supreme Leader himself insists you take a look.”

When Dameron nods, Hux knows that whatever this was is now over, at least for tonight.

“Let the Supreme Leader know that I’m out getting some air and will be back shortly.”

He turns off his comm and stands, refastening his boots and throwing on his jacket. “I appreciate you coming all this way, and for letting me… relax, for just a moment. Even if it meant…” ‘nothing’, he wants to say. _Even if it meant nothing to you_. “It was nice of you.”

To his surprise, Poe wraps him back up in his arms and pulls him close. “It does mean something to me, Red. You know it does. And if we didn’t have people on Malachor V I would’ve asked you to stay with me tonight, okay? You matter to me. Stay safe so we can bring you home and pick up where we left off.”

Hux hugs back, a renewed sense of purpose flowing through his veins.

They kiss once more on Hux’s way out, careful to stay out of the light in case others are watching. The rain hasn’t stopped but it doesn’t seem to bother Hux much anymore, and as he winds his grav-car through the busy streets of Vardos back to the First Order headquarters, he thinks about Dameron and what’s waiting for him back home once this war is over.

For the first time in a long time, he laughs. The First Order has no idea what’s coming.  

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/160863982@N07/45459099634/in/dateposted-public/)

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to the amazingly talented [Tatiana](https://backtothe80scolors.tumblr.com/) for the incredible art!


End file.
